Infants and small children generally require a large measure of protection when playing or sleeping, especially when left alone. The dangers to such small children are numerous, such as falls, bruises, unsanitary areas, such as rugs or floors, onto which the child might stray, or, where a restraint means is used, being caught or tangled in the restraint means.
Most commonly, such small children are placed in cribs or play pens which are relatively fixed as to location, and which are often padded to protect the child and afford it a measure of comfort. Thus, the slats of the crib are often draped with pads to prevent the child from being caught between slats, and to cushion the child if it should fall against the sides of the crib. From a safety and child security standpoint, a crib or playpen thus padded is excellent, however, it is not conveniently portable and thus is quite difficult to carry on trips. Thus, when the parent and child are staying in a hotel room, for example, unless the hotel has cribs or playpens available, there is no ready means for protecting the child while it plays or sleeps.
By the time that a child has outgrown a travel crib, at about two years of age, he or she tends to feel too confined by a crib and starts to try to climb out. This can be extremely dangerous inasmuch as the child can fall or become tangled in the crib while trying to get out. As a consequence, the alternatives to a crib, such as an adult bed or a sleeping bag, are often used. However, children usually roll frequently while sleeping, and can roll off the bed. A sleeping bag has its own drawbacks, such as the possibility of the child ending up totally inside of the bag, with a danger of suffocation, or rolling out of the bag onto the unsanitary floor or rug.
When a child is ill, or subject to bad dreams or the like, the parents want the child to sleep near them, but not in bed with them. Thus, a trundle bed arrangement, where the bed can be stored under the parents' bed and pulled out when needed, is desirable.
As a consequence, there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on designing portable arrangements for children that can be easily transported and, where necessary, quickly assembled, and which afford the child a reasonable measure of protection. The prior art is replete with such devices, an example of which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,626,407 of Kurry. The device of that patent is a folding crib which can be carried in a case and unfolded for use. The crib comprises a pair of bottom portions of cardboard or the like which can be folded together and unfolded to form the floor of the crib. A hollow U-shaped rim extends along the periphery of each of the bottom portions and is filled with a soft filler material. The rim portions are attached to the bottom portions so that when the bottom portions are folded, the butting ends of the U-shaped rims separate. The crib is designed to be placed upon a bed or sofa and the mattress or cushions thereof constitute the cushioning means for the crib. The rim members protect the child so that it cannot roll off the bed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,514 of Leach there is shown a portable utility pad which comprises a rectangular fabric tube filled with cushioning material having a sheet of fabric attached thereto to form a floor for the pad. The entire assembly may be folded into a compact triangular configuration and held there by fasteners. A pair of Velcro.RTM. straps form a handle for carrying the triangular bundle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,139 of Bloom discloses a play mat having a cushioned base portion and a cushioned circular wall portion, secured to each other by suitable means, such as a zipper. The mat can be folded up for transport and stored in a carrying case that is integral therewith.
The arrangements of prior art thus far discussed all have cushioned wall portions wherein the cushioning material is integral with or incorporated into the wall structure, which materially adds to the bulk of the folded member, as well as necessitating, at least in some cases, a unique or special way of folding the member for transport. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,509 of Pollard, there is shown a sleeping pad for infants or patients which comprises a retainer sheet upon which are attached and arrayed in a rectangular configuration a plurality of pockets. Cylindrically shaped foam members are insertable into the pockets to form a walled rectangular enclosure in which the child or patient can be placed. The sheet itself is designed to be fitted to the mattress of a bed so that it does not shift or slide, thus affording a stable, fixed enclosure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,130 of Neudling likewise discloses walls formed by cushions insertable into pockets formed on a flexible panel.
None of the foregoing patents discloses an infant bed or playpen that can be broken down into its component parts for easy transportability. In most cases, as with the Kurry, Leach, and Bloom arrangements, the bed or pad is rolled up, usually in a complicated manner, to form a somewhat bulky package. While the Pollard arrangement can be broken down into components, the components themselves are bulky, and there is no suggestion as to how the disassembled bed is to be folded and transported.
The prior art arrangements fail to show, in one or more particulars, a utility pad arrangement for infants, e.g., children below the age of two years, which is also a trundle bed arrangement for small children, e.g., children from two to six years old. Such an arrangement would be highly desirable and useful.